


The Iron Queen

by LittleFox8



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, and back probably, and maybe back again, autistic ofc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 02:22:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14126043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleFox8/pseuds/LittleFox8
Summary: When a mortal has the audacity to speak her mind to his face, Loki decides to test her grand ideas and let her watch as they crumble. Slowly she becomes something intriguing in an entirely different way.





	The Iron Queen

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally called "Candid Conversations" but I went back to an older title.

Katherine Dunn sat staring at the glowing energy field that sealed her cell. The shock that she was alive had begun to wear away. Now she was just hungry and with every passing second the buzz of the energy field became louder, more inescapable, and more painful.  
When she wasn’t resisting the urge to bang her head against a wall, Katherine tried to imagine why the hell she was being kept in a cell at all. She was part of a riot (there were plenty of those anymore). Soldiers came to break up the rally and amidst the confusion, she was one of those arrested and, for some reason, brought directly to the king. Figuring she was a dead woman walking she’d simply spoke her mind. He had debated her for a while, grinning the entire time, before ordering that she be locked in the nearby prison. Of course that didn’t especially matter much now, it was more of a distraction. All that mattered was her hunger… and the buzzing.

Finally a moment of silence came as the field shut off. Katherine sat still trying to gather her mind from the cracks and crevices of her subconscious where it had broken apart and fled from the unyielding barrage of sound. Some part of her dissociated mind managed to notice the smell of hot food, but the thought drifted away before much could be done with it. Words passed through her ears, heard, but not comprehended. Hands closed around her arms and wheeled her around. It seemed her brain had deemed this last piece of information worthy of attention and compelled her to produce an inarticulate shout of protest at the sensation. It didn’t actually stop the sensation, of course, but any response was a bit of a breakthrough.  
After a moment or two of listening to the voice say something that refused to be processed, she realized she probably should focus her eyes on the speaker. In another moment she succeeded and jolted a bit closer to awareness at who she saw.  
King Loki stood before her, looking… well actually Katherine wasn’t very good at reading emotions on new people, but it didn’t seem like a positive expression anyway. She began trying to wade closer to reality, despite the strain, hoping to at least be able to spit a curse word before she met whatever her fate was to be.  
“…matter, mortal? You were so defiant but a few weeks ago. Are you so fragile as to be broken by a lack of diversion?” Loki taunted.  
Maybe it was disgust? The concept puttered by in some amorphous conceptual form. Somewhere in the thought might have been the image of a wrinkled nose, something slimy and green, but to be honest it wasn’t really something Katherine could articulate or easily move forward from. Instead, she just stared at the leatherwork on the armor now in her field of vision. What she recognized to be Celtic knotting twisted along in gold thread. Had her hands been free she quite likely would have reached out to trace the path of the pattern with her finger.  
“Look at me and listen when I speak to you, mortal!” Loki snarled, lifting her face up to meet his gaze. Katherine stared at his nose in attempt to both appease him and avoid fulfilling the request. She moved her mouth and stretched her vocal chords experimentally. Nothing came. A second attempt and still there was nothing. Finally after a few more attempts at vocalizing, she managed a few words.  
“One… or… the other,” she forced each word through.  
“What did you say, mortal?” he demanded, his grip tightening slightly.  
“Can… l-look…. orrrr listen,” Katherine struggled to find the balance between saying enough of a proper sentence to be understood and evading words her brain seemed unwilling to work with.  
“You are not in a place to make demands,” he released her with a shove, “Indeed you don’t seem to be in a position to make much of anything. A pity I rather liked our little chat. I had even planned to furnish you with a decent meal.” He began to stride away. Katherine realized with horror that without Loki and the guards, the buzzing would return.  
“Paper.” She was surprised at how clearly the word came out. He paused. Katherine hurried to say something of interest to him.  
“Paper. Pen. Talk.” It was better than not trying she supposed. Loki turned slowly, glancing over her.  
“Bring the amenities I requested as well as stationary,” He ordered, not taking his gaze from Katherine. With a gesture the guards released her and left. The field closed again and Katherine collapsed, pressing her hands to her ears until her arms strained.  
Loki tilted his head slightly before making the soft sound one make’s in response to a sudden understanding.  
“Leave the field off,” Loki ordered. The sound ceased and for a few moments Katherine just lay limp, exhaling quite a bit more forcefully than one might deem strictly necessary.  
“You can hear that field, mortal?” he asked as his boots stepped into her line of sight. She nodded vaguely once she understood the words. He rolled her over with his toe. In part because he simply wanted to see whether such an indignity would rouse her from her stupor. She merely glanced his way again with just a twitch of resentment before slipping back into dead-eyed staring.

  
Katherine did start, however, as a table laden with food was set down with a thud. She hadn’t eaten enough for quite some time. The food they gave her was so unpalatable that, when combined with the constant buzzing, it hadn’t seemed worth the pain and struggle to eat. But now the smell of hot meat and fresh bread reminded her that she did indeed possess an appetite. Katherine grabbed the leg of the table and clawed her way into a seat. She snapped up the first thing that appealed to her and scarfed it down. She sighed as her blood sugar rose and brought with it the anticipated sensory relief.  
Now that she could process what she saw in a matter of seconds rather than minutes, she looked over the table to the man who had furnished it.  
“Does it stand up to your delicate sensibilities, mortal?” he needled, “The stationary will be here shortly for now a nod will do,” he added when he saw her look for something to write with. She nodded absently, shoveling food onto a plate. After a long silence, she managed a single word:  
“Why?”  
He glanced up from a glass of wine, but seemed to not understand. With a sigh Katherine set down her cutlery and gestured along the table and to the man sitting at the opposite end and repeated, “Why?”  
“You are amusing,” he dismissed, moving to take a sip of his wine, he paused at the incredulous look she gave him, “You were brought to me to be punished for insurrection and genuinely attempted to engage in persuasive debate. Admittedly between insults, but you did none the less. There is a distinct lack of such things in my position.”  
She glanced up to see if the paper had arrived but no such luck, she settled once more on a single word.  
“Lying.”  
“Given the circumstances in which you were arguing, I imagine you have a certain love for such discussion. I simply share that fondness for debate.”  
Katherine shook her head and pulled the best disbelieving face she could. “Weak.”  
“I am currently engaging in a debate with a mortal who is only capable of single word sentences whilst gorging like a starved dog. You underestimate my love of words,” he chuckled.  
“Or yoooourvoice,” she snorted, gulping down a glass of water, “Three words,” she added as she wiped her face. She drew back as she noticed the stench.  
“I am most impressed I assure you,” he chuckled, “But it would seem that you are delivered from such linguistic acrobatics.” He gestured to a guard carrying a notebook and pen.  
“Thankssss, gooo fuck-yourself,”  
The guard punched Katherine so hard that he sent her flying out of her chair to the floor. She began to giggle uncontrollably and held out both middle fingers. The guard began to charge forward but was flung backward against the wall with a thud. Katherine glanced up to see Loki raising his hand, visibly exasperated.  
“Why?” he sighed, standing up from the table.  
“Asshole,” she stated, looking pointedly at the guard to be clear.  
“He’s one of the guards. I could piece together your sentiments, mortal,” he snorted as he turned toward the guard, “What I want to know, Heyde, is why you thought assaulting the prisoner to whom I have shown such partiality was a wise decision.”  
“Habit,” Katherine snorted, getting up and assessing the damage in the reflection of her spoon. “Bleeding?” she asked glancing up to Loki.  
“No,” he chuckled, caught off guard.  
Katherine gave a hum to show she had heard. Half-listening to the guard plead his case, she tore part of a page from the notebook and began to write. She passed the note to Loki before going to sit in a nearby corner.

“The bastard abuses everyone who comes through here. At least, that's what I’ve gathered from the screaming. (Probably never going to un-hear that.) I’ve had my share of beatings and withheld meals but I’m guessing he’s only threatened to rape me because of your “partiality.” It’s disgusting. He’s disgusting.”

Loki paused for a long moment, reading it multiple times. Suddenly, Heyde flew to the other side of the cell. The arm he held out to protect his head broke with a loud snap. Loki strolled to the guard, seemingly unaffected by his screaming.  
“Perhaps my memory fails me, did I ever order you to take advantage of the prisoners, Heyde?” Loki asked as if discussing the weather, “I recall orders regarding feeding, clothing, which prisoners are to be brought to me when... and the occasional execution. But never,” the word was accented by Loki stepping on the guard’s fractured arm, “Never do I recall ordering you to violate a single prisoner in that way.”  
“Leave us,” he ordered to the guards who had rushed to investigate, “And remove him from my sight,” he added as he kicked the man from the cell. He turned to where Katherine sat, causing her to flinch.

“The brute has been dealt with. Come take a seat,” Loki gestured with a grin. Katherine remained frozen, gasping softly for air.  
“Did you not wish him such a fate?” Loki demanded, “Have you no gratitude?”  
Katherine only curled in on herself as she attempted to push herself through the wall behind her. Loki walked to the table with a sigh and brought back two glasses of wine and the notebook.  
“Did any other guards act in the same manner?” he murmured. She glanced up as he offered a glass of wine. “You seemed as though you could use a drink,” he elaborated. She nodded, taking the glass with shaky hands.  
“Sit?” she whispered.  
“I beg your pardon?” his voice was low.  
“Tall, scary,” she elaborated looking blankly forward.  
“Very well, I shall humor you,” he sighed, handing off his drink as he lowered himself to the ground, “Do you have any injuries that need immediate attention?” He sipped his wine absently. She shook her head in response.  
“Good,” Loki smiled and handed over the notebook, “Where were we?”  
“You were trying to convince me that you are doing all of this because you like to argue,” she wrote as Loki read over her shoulder.  
“Finding someone who will contradict me is no small task I assure you, mortal.” Loki took a sip of his drink.  
“That must be very hard on you, as a dictator.” Katherine tried to assume an expression that conveyed exactly how little sympathy she had.  
“How can a king,” he bit into the word, “rule his subjects effectively if no one will advise him?”  
“You’re not a king. (Please let me finish.) You can call yourself that as you are in charge but you did not succeed a blood relative, who was the previous king of the planet. You took total power for yourself by force. That is the definition of dictator.”  
“That is mere semantics,” he chuckled, “If I had a child who took power after me you would still deem him a dictator.”  
“Whatever the title, people die everyday thanks to you.”  
“You think you know more than a god, mortal?” Loki laughed.  
“My name is Katherine,” she spat sitting the notebook aside.  
“Ah the prophetess finally speaks,” he grinned, “Go on then dear Katherine and expound your wisdom.”  
“You call yourself King of Midgard don’t you?” she asked.  
“You are insightful indeed!” Loki noted dryly.  
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said, rolling her eyes, “So you expect every order you give to be obeyed right?”  
“I have not been in this realm long but by now I know that midgardians are extremely contrary creatures.”  
“Ok, but you think they should don’t you?”  
“Obviously,” he said shortly.  
“Then the outcome of every order you give or choose not to give ultimately falls back on you,” Katherine asserted, “You have burnt this world down to gain your power. You could at least have the decency to own up to that.”  
“You test my patience. If you can speak properly, you will address me properly. Midgard was a seething cesspool of chaos before I took my place on the throne,” Loki spat. Katherine had already returned the part of her that felt emotion to the deepest corners of her mind. She didn’t have much capacity for fear in that moment. Instead she reassessed the situation for a few moments and adjusted her argument.  
“I have not once denied that, your majesty,” she said as pleasantly as she could, “I am merely saying that war leads to ruin and if we are your subjects then surely we are your responsibility.”  
“I did not expect you to submit so quickly,” he sneered.  
“I have not even remotely abandoned my point, majesty,” she took a gulp of wine, “I’m merely adjusting my tone. Debate tends to turn sour once either party gets pissed off.  
“So I will assert again. Regardless of whom you wish to blame, earth is suffering. You have the choice to be a considerate ruler who does his utmost to ensure the welfare of his people. Or you can act like a petulant child if I so much as suggest that your performance thus far has left something to be desired. You said you wanted someone to oppose you. I’m doing just that. What you do with that is your problem. Your majesty.”

Loki slowly started to laugh, catching her off guard, “Stand. I’m moving you to quarters near mine in the Tower.”  
“I… what?” she sat dumbstruck.  
“I have no desire to journey to such a bleak place every time I wish to have a candid conversation,” Loki elaborated.  
Katherine looked around the cell for a moment until her gaze fell on the food-laden table. Being offered decent comfort in exchange for actually having Loki’s ear and permission to tell him how horrible he is seemed like a trap. Then again, she was already trapped. With a sigh she pushed herself to her feet and followed.


End file.
